Bright Moment A man sells goldfish in baggies tied to a tree branch at the Shatila Palestinian Camp in Beirut, Lebanon. The image was published in an editor’s note in the February 1983 issue about the magazine’s coverage of Lebanon’s civil war. Photograph by W.E. Garrett, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat Geo Photo of the […]

Leafy Creek Yellow leafy spurge grows along Idaho’s Medicine Lodge Creek, a public land with a privately owned river bottom. The image was taken for a story in the August 2001 issue about public lands maintained by the Bureau of Land Management. Photograph by Melissa Farlow, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat Geo Photo of the […]

Festival of Lights Two women in traditional dresses light candles at the City Palace in Jaipur, India, in observance of Diwali. The image, published online in August 2008, marks the holiday, also called the Festival of Lights. Photograph by Joe McNally, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat Geo Photo of the DayRead More 

Behind the Scenes Actors get ready backstage before a performance of the opera “Chen Long Kai Xu” near Guangzhou, China. The image was taken for a profile in the December 1991 issue about Ibn Battuta, a famous traveler who journeyed from North Africa to China. Photograph by James L. Stanfield, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat […]

White Ants A woman sits on top of a large white anthill, some of which can rise up to 40 feet high, near Elizabethville in the former Belgian Congo. The image was taken for a story in the October 1922 issue about a navy operation in Africa during World War I. Photograph by Frank J. […]

Adirondack High Yellow plants grow near a rocky stream in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. The image was taken on assignment for a story in the June 1998 issue highlighting the beauty of the large state park. Photograph by Maria Stenzel, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat Geo Photo of the DayRead More 

Strange Shelter A Decken’s sifaka lemur sits among the limestone towers in Madagascar’s Grand Tsingy. The image was taken for a story in the November 2009 issue about the labyrinth of stone. Photograph by Stephen Alvarez, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat Geo Photo of the DayRead More 

Mask Off Children dance in giant mask-like costumes in Japan. The previously unpublished image was taken on one of Eliza R. Scidmore’s many trips to Japan as the first woman to sit on the board of trustees of the National Geographic Society. Photograph by Eliza R. Scidmore, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat Geo Photo of […]

Spooky Season A street is decorated with witches, skeletons, and jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween in Blackpool, England. The previously unpublished image shows the city’s tradition of elaborate seasonal decorations dating back to 1912. Photograph by Tomasz Tomaszewski, Nat Geo Image Collection Nat Geo Photo of the DayRead More